HGBC News

Shared Inquiry Video

Great Books discussions employ a method called Shared Inquiry. Shared Inquiry is a Socratic, collaborative, and question-driven discussion method. To see a short example of a such a discussion, click here.

MFAH Online Book Club

MFAH Online Book Club. Interested in carrying the enjoyment of your Great Books reading and discussion even further? Extend your discussion in conjunction with related art works through the Online Book Club at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. It's easy! Just pick one of the works featured, read and discuss it as usual in your group, then come as a group to the MFAH to continue your discussion. A gallery educator (docent) will accompany you to help facilitate a dialog between the literary artist you have read and several visual artists whose works relate to the book selected. Just go to www.mfah.org/bookclub.

Currently featured offerings are The Hare with Amber Eyes, by Edmund de Waal, and An Artist of the Floating World, by Kazuo Ishiguro. In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason will be the featured book beginning October 1.

Edmund de Waal tells the true story of a collection of 264 netsuke—decorative Japanese toggles—that he inherited. Originally designed as kimono accessories, these small, beautiful objects were enthusiastically collected in Paris during the late 19th century. Among the most ardent collectors was De Waal’s ancestor, Charles Ephrussi, the scion of a fabulously wealthy banking family and a great patron of the arts. The author traces the family’s struggles during World War II, when their once-legendary wealth was reduced to a few possessions, including the prized netsuke. Learn about Paris during the late 19th century, Vienna during the early 20th century, and post-World War II Japan.

In Kazuo Ishiguro's (born 1956) An Artist of the Floating World, an aging artist is caught between two manifestations of Japan: the imperial movement that led his nation into World War II, and the devastation of postwar Nagasaki. Ishiguro's protagonist lives in a culture with strictly defined roles, and tries to reconcile "what is" with "what could be." Book Club tours will highlight works in the MFAH's highly anticipated new Arts of Japan Gallery, and expand into other areas of the museum's collections.

Literacy Advance of Houston

A Great Books Discussion Group for adults working through an upper level English as a Second Language course meets at Literacy Advance of Houston, 2424 Wilcrest. We meet every Tuesday to express our ideas in English about the work we have read. In this way, we are increasing our knowledge of vocabulary and good writing as well as the relationship of literature to our common life.

30% of Houston adults cannot read. If you can read this, help someone who can't by contacting Frances Leland by email or Literacy Advance of Houston.